Dan Cohen, 2025–26

Daniel Cohen’s research explores the intersection of religious studies and neuroscience. He is fascinated by the way that different religious traditions have developed a variety of ritual practices (e.g., prayer, meditation) to facilitate spiritually transcendent experiences. Through ongoing collaborative and interdisciplinary research on the religious and spiritual orientations of individuals with different forms of brain injury, Cohen’s research aims to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between religious (and secular) experiences of transcendence involving the temporary loss of one’s “sense of self” and related neurological processes, in order to develop a better understanding of the development of religion in humanity.

Selected Publications

• Cohen, Dan, and Brick Johnstone. “Evolution of the Parietal Lobe in the Formation of an Enhanced ‘Sense of Self’: The Neuropsychological Foundations of Socialization, Prosocial Behaviors, and Religion.” Journal of Cognition and Culture 24, no. 1–2, (April 2024): 91–120.
• Johnstone, Brick, Dan Cohen, and Andrew Dennison. “The Integration of Sensations and Mental Experiences into a Unified Experience: A Neuropsychological Model for the ‘Sense of Self’.” Neuropsychologia 159, no. 107939 (2021): 1–11.
• Cohen, Dan. “Sex and the Evolution of Spirituality.” In The Evolution of Religion, Religiosity and Theology: A Multi-Level and Multi-Disciplinary Approach, edited by Jay R. Feierman and Lluis Oviedo, 54–69. New York: Routledge, 2019.
• Johnstone, Brick, and Dan Cohen. Neuroscience, Selflessness, and Spiritual Experience: Explaining the Science of Transcendence. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2019.
• Johnstone, Brick, and Dan Cohen, Kelly Konopacki, and Christopher Ghan. “Selflessness as a Foundation of Spiritual Transcendence: Perspectives from the Neurosciences and Religious Studies.” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 26, no. 4 (2016): 287–303.